"Tropical Storm Harvey has broken the all-time Texas rainfall record from a tropical storm or hurricane, the National Weather Service said Tuesday."Southeast of Houston, a rain gauge at Mary's Creek at Winding Road has picked up 49.32 inches of rain from Harvey, the weather service said. This broke the record of 48 inches set in Medina, Texas, from Amelia in 1978."It's only 3 inches from the all-time U.S. rainfall record from a tropical cyclone, which was 52 inches in Hawaii from Hurricane Hiki in 1950." - Doyle Rice/ USA Today (8/29/17)

What the good people of Texas (and others) have done for those that needed their help is Homeric: ​Those that have helped are of all colors, races, ethnicities, and those that needed help have been too. In this diversity there are no white supremacists...

"4,000 Red Cross volunteers from across the country are expected along the Gulf Coast."'You know, our volunteer force is 90% volunteers from all over the country, our workforce,' said Lloyd Ziel of the American Red Cross, at the convention center in Houston where volunteers are helping victims. 'So, these folks have left their families and left their homes to come here and make sure that the people here in Houston and in Texas are taken care of.'"A few dozen of those volunteers will come from Maine." - Kayla Fish/ Fox 22, ABC 7 (Bangor, Maine/ 8-28-17)

"I locked my door. I turned my battered Sentinel radio on. It came alive with a blast of static. Boston Blackie, the reformed crook and misunderstood good Joe, was on the trail of a cold blooded killer. He told the inspector, 'It's a dangerous world full of unscrupulous men.' "The inspector agreed. "So did I. I said to Blackie, 'You can say that again, brother.' "I tapped the bottle of rye on its chest. It didn't bark at me. It was a quiet pet, almost serene. I hoisted it by the neck and took a long drink and another and one more until I sighed like a mother of twelve when the last kid (leaves) home. "I grabbed my almost dry and almost clean clothes off the radiator and changed back into them.. I fished my bung hammer out of the desk drawer in case I saw any more bugs. I moved my chair and whiskey next to the radiator. I looked out the window. "Nothing had changed. "Franco had Madrid surrounded, though the Spanish Loyalists were through when I left, almost a year earlier. Hitler had taken Austria and the Sudetenland without firing a shot. Mussolini, after his fun loving Italian army had some target practice in Ethiopia, annexed Albania. Uncle Joe Stalin was threatening the Baltic States and Finland. The Japanese were mowing down men, women, and children in China like Kansas wheat. In the USA, people were out of work, hungry, angry, and restless. "The world was primed to blow. "On cue, Boston Blackie said to Joan Blondell, 'It can be a very scary world out there.' "'Amen, I said to everybody in the room.' Then, I saw a cockroach sneaking across the floor. So I picked up my hammer and went back to work." - from the novel Otis Moon by Kevin O'Kendley

​

"Welcome to 2017: Our future is in the rear-view mirror and gaining on us." (posted earlier)

"BARCELONA, Spain — Spain’s royal family and prime minister joined numerous dignitaries and Muslim leaders on Sunday to mourn the 14 people killed in twin attacks last week, the deadliest case of terrorism in the country since 2004."As the nation grieved, the hunt continued for Younes Abouyaaqoub, a 22-year-old Moroccan-born man who the authorities said might have driven a van that mowed down pedestrians on Las Ramblas, Barcelona’s famous promenade, on Thursday afternoon, killing 13. A 14th person died in a car attack hours later in the seaside town of Cambrils, 70 miles to the south."Mr. Abouyaaqoub is believed to be the only member of a cell of at least 12 men who is still on the run, said Maj. Josep Lluís Trapero, the police chief in the Catalonia region, of which Barcelona is the capital, but whether he was still in Spain was not clear." - Raphael Minder & Patrick Kingsley (8- 20-17)/ New York Times

"One person was killed and 19 were hurt when a speeding car slammed into a throng of counterprotesters in Charlottesville (VA), where a "Unite the Right" rally of white nationalist and other right-wing groups had been scheduled to take place, the city tweeted on its verified account."A 32-year-old woman was killed while walking across the street, Charlottesville Police Chief Al Thomas said. Police were still in the process of notifying her family."Two Virginia State Patrol troopers were killed in a helicopter crash while "assisting public safety resources with the ongoing situation in Charlottesville," the agency said in a news release. The pilot, Lt. H. Jay Cullen, 48, and Trooper Berke M.M. Bates, who would have turned 41 on Sunday, died in the crash." - CNN

"One day after a car plowed into a group of people protesting a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Va., the victim of that attack has been identified as Heather Heyer. The Charlottesville resident was 32 years old." - Wynne Davis, Emma Bowman/ The Two Way from NPR

​"There is nowhere on earth, no mountain, no jungle, no tenement, no desert, no church, no temple, no mosque, no refugee camp, no tribe, no race, where a human being, no matter how obscure the language or culture or lifestyle cannot look at America and see themselves. Despots and tyrants and mass murderers cannot look here without seeing the women and men of their tribe, of their region, of their religion, of their language, of their nation living as free human beings, as Americans." excerpt from America by Kevin O'Kendley

In 3/6/1521, Ferdinand Magellan, a Portugese explorer, landed in Guam, or the Islas de los Ladrones (Islands of the Thieves), in the Southern Mariana Islands. Before being decimated by disease, the Chomorros (the indigenous people) stole everything they could from his Spanish ships. We welcomed such talented and noble people to the United States in 1898 after acquiring the islands from Spain via the Spanish American War. ​The Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands were acquired from Japan through the horrific sacrifice, brutal combat, and the mass death of American and Japanese soldiers, Marines, and sailors in the Second World War. - historical facts: Wikipedia

Some stuff about North and South Korea:

Korea, first established in part just before the Birth of Christ, was colonized by Japan at the turn of the last century becoming a part of Japan by 1910.After World War II (1945) the nation was divided at the 38th Parallel between occupying Russian forces in the north and American forces in the south. The Korean War erupted on the Korean Peninsula in 1950 between the North and South Koreans: the communist government of the north invaded the democratic-capitalistic society of the south. With the addition of American and Chinese forces the conflict escalated. The war ended by truce in 1953 with up to "five million dead, wounded, missing, half of them civilians."* The Chinese and the North Koreans moved north of the 38th Parallel and the Americans and the South Koreans established themselves south of the U.N.-established border, defined by latitude. - *FactRetriever.com, Wikipedia

To steal from my own cartoon and a short story: The Koreans and the Chomorros were living in complex structures in advanced civilizations in Korea and in the socially-civilized islands of the Marianas while the Irish were still living in the trees. But, the Irish climbed down by themselves while the English had to wait for the fire department.

Please give to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights: Palais Wilson, 52 rue des Paquis, CH-1201, Geneva, Switzerland

8/9/17:"Amid mounting nuclear tensions between the United States and North Korea, Japan has been marking the 72 anniversary of the atomic bombing on Nagasaki."Hundreds of people, including Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, attended commemorations in the city, the site of the last nuclear bomb attack to take place.“'Here in Nagasaki, a city that continues to pray for perpetual peace, I reaffirm my commitment to realizing a peaceful world without nuclear weapons. At the same time, I give my condolences to those who lost their lives because of the nuclear bomb, and I pray for peace of mind for the relatives of the victims, the participants of this ceremony, and all Nagasaki citizens,' Abe said."The bombing of Nagasaki killed more than 70,000 people."It came just three days after the attack on Hiroshima, the site of the world’s first atomic bomb. That claimed 140,000 lives."Shortly after Nagasaki Japan announced its surrender bringing World War II to an end." - Euro News

(Edited 8/9)“It is not every day that the UN (S)ecurity (C)ouncil passes a resolution unanimously. But that is what happened on Saturday, when it approved resolution 2371, which provides for much tougher sanctions against North Korea, including a ban on it selling coal, iron and lead.” - Mary Dejevsky/ Gulf News Thinkers

"North Korea is stepping up its threats against the United States in the wake of the United Nations Security Council’s unanimous passage last Saturday of a toughly worded U.S.-drafted sanctions resolution. In response to North Korea’s two intercontinental ballistic missile tests last month, the new UN resolution bans North Korea’s exports of coal, iron, iron ore, lead, lead ore and seafood. The effect would be to potentially cut North Korea’s $3 billion annual export revenue by a third. Member states are also prohibited from admitting more North Korean workers into their countries. These workers send remittances back to North Korea, replenishing the regime’s hard currency reserves.“North Korea’s irresponsible and careless acts have just proved to be quite costly to the regime,” said U.S. Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley following the adoption of the resolution. “This resolution is the single largest economic sanctions package ever leveled against the North Korean regime. The price the North Korean leadership will pay for its continued nuclear and missile development will be the loss of one-third of its exports and hard currency. This is the most stringent set of sanctions on any country in a generation.” - Joseph Klein/ Canada Free Press

“The Council is composed of 15 Members: five permanent members: China, France, (the) Russian Federation, the United Kingdom, and the United States, and ten non-permanent members elected for two-year terms by the General Assembly (with end of term date):” The elected states are: Bolivia (2018), Egypt (2017), Ethiopia (2018), Italy (2017), Japan (2017), Kazakhstan (2018), Senegal (2017), Sweden (2018), Ukraine (2017), and Uruguay (2017). - United Nations Security Council

The U.S. Ambassador to the U.N., Nikki Haley helped bring about a foundational consensus within the U.N. to establish intense and punitive sanctions against North Korea's nuclear posturing. With this consensus, a chance at a successful interaction between North Korea, and South Korea, China, Russia, Japan, the United States, and other nations involved in the North Korean dynamic is possible.

Kevin O'Kendley is the owner of Carbuncle Moon, and the author of all original material on the website (there has been a very limited editorial input in some of my work). Quoted sources are noted. I am responsible for all posts. Kevin O'Kendley: P.O. Box 172, Winterport, Maine, 04496/ and then my next address... ksokendley@outlook.com.

Technical help is provided by an evolving computer genius, Conor O'Kendley. A good kid with a great heart who can be reached at P.O. Box 172, Winterport, Maine, 04496.

Photography provided by visual artist Caitlin O'Kendley, a young woman with a beautiful soul.

If your nonprofit is advertised on this site and you wish to have it removed please contact me at the above listed snail-mail or email addresses. If you download a blog, cartoon, a short story -- or for any other reason -- and wish to donate $ to this site, its author and technical support personnel, please send donations to above listed addresses payable to Kevin O'Kendley. My family and I could use the dinero.All cartoons, blogs, and short stories are for sale.